Page 25: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2020)

The Author

Buzby

Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby was sworn in as MarAd’s Maritime

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Administrator in 2017. the foundations of U.S. maritime policy— the Jones Act,

Course Overview

Report

Cargo Preference, and the Maritime Security Program - will endure.

Cargo is always king. That’s why, in collaboration with De- fense Acquisition University (DAU), we recently launched accredited, web-based training courses on cargo preference laws and regulations to boost compliance and drive more non-military federal cargo to U.S.-fag vessels. This will con- tinue to help U.S.-fag operators remain competitive and put

American workers frst.

The Maritime Security Program remains essential. In return for an annual federal payment of $5 million per ship/per year, the MSP provides our Nation with assured access to a feet of 60 modern, militarily useful U.S. ships, active in global trade and available “on call” to meet contingency needs. This vital program has an annual budget of $300 million – quite a bargain when you consider that replicating the MSP feet and intermodal resources and networks with taxpayer funds would cost an estimated $60 billion plus.

Finally, the Jones Act—our domestic cabotage law—which reserves cargo moving between American ports for American ships, crewed my American mariners, and built in American shipyards is central to sustaining U.S. shipping, our ship- building capacity, and the employment of American civilian mariners. Jones Act shipping is a U.S. job machine, resulting in $54 billion in U.S. economic output and supporting nearly 650,000 American jobs.

Just as for every American, this has been a challenging time for our agency and our industry. But the work of supporting the U.S. maritime industry goes on across America. Just as

World War II mariners learned how to more safely navigate dangerous waters, we’ve learned to adapt, to collaborate, and to fnd new ways to support and protect what we hold dear: that as maritime nation, our Nation’s economy depends on trade by sea.

I take great pride in the fact that, during my watch the

MARAD, Congress and President Trump came together to honor World War II civilian merchant mariners with the Con- gressional Gold Medal. It was a long overdue recognition of their service and sacrifce. We can look to the spirit of those mariners for courage and strength to carry us through diffcult times. As always, their example of service — “In Peace and

War” — will guide us through the tempest.